


it's all my fault

by mooselady



Category: Ava's Demon
Genre: Blood, F/M, Gen, Psychological Torture, Psychological Trauma, Torture, when the author brings hoem the hetti speghetti
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-19
Updated: 2016-07-19
Packaged: 2018-07-25 07:23:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7523737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mooselady/pseuds/mooselady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>ava and odin get captured and tortured</p>
            </blockquote>





	it's all my fault

**Author's Note:**

> this was a prompt from tumblr for the phrase "It's all my fault." this was alot of fun to write, enjoy chickadees!
> 
> (oh, and here's [the song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bosouX_d8Y) referenced in the fic, please listen for dramatic effect_)

The blood was dripping from his nose.

This was evident, as it was collecting onto the floor, a royal metallic plip plop of dark purple. He kept his eyes to the floor, watching the blood, waiting.

He wasn’t suppose to be bleeding like this.

The detainment chamber was dimly lit, but surrounded by guards. Odin glanced around him, the dribble of fresh blood coursing down his chin. It appeared that the entire ship’s fleet had arrived for this. A sea of masked faces kept their guns to their chests, and then he heard it. A soft melody, a sort of ancient lullaby, so easy on the ears that if he weren’t captured, he was sure would lull him to sleep.

“I kn-know this song,” he whispered. It was an announcement mostly for himself, a way for him to collect the words under his breath, to open his mouth and taste the blood, and memorize what it meant, how true it was.

The guard ordered, “Quiet,” nudging his gun between Odin’s shoulder blades. The teenager turned to deliver a glare at the masked face, only to see the locked door slide open, revealing the fiery red hair of the girl being led into the room.

He straightened himself, as much as he could for someone who was on their knees with their hands tied behind their back.

He was trying to tell her something without words, a bleary sort of pleading coming from his eyes, entreating her to look at him.

Ava glanced up. A darkened bruise of coal black was at the corner of her brow. Her hands were also fastened behind her back, and Odin squinted, quirking his brow as if to ask,

_What are you doing? Get out of here!_

She looked away, and was ordered by the guard to kneel beside Odin, shoulder to shoulder, close enough that Odin could feel her warmth seep into his skin.

“There’s blood on your shirt,” she said quietly.

He looked at her. She did not move, but her eyes flickered to meet his.

“It’s on your face too.”

Odin blinked quickly. His breathing became quick, his mind racing, all too aware of the guards lining the blue wall of the detainment chamber. He could see a view of the galaxies in front of them, a huge see-through porthole that made the entire front wall.

The darkness of space was too cold to bear.

“Ava, l-listen to me. You can escape, I know you c-can.”

She kept her voice low, answering, “Maybe I want to meet Titan.”

Odin scoffed, retorting with biting force, “Can you m-make this easy f-for once-”

He was interrupted by the loud, slow clap coming from the south wing.

The pair went still, and the guards lining every wall, every escape, stood rigid and at attention. The claps came closer, until a deep voice reverberated throughout the chamber.

“Very well. Nicely done. A valiant effort.”

A large hand brushed through Ava’s hair, causing her to jerk away and lean against Odin. She made sure to look Titan in the eye, a solitary, bright white that was difficult to empathize with. Her eyes bore into him, and then at his accomplice, Strategos Six, who walked alongside him, remaining professional and poised by his side.

Odin exhaled very slowly, feeling her flesh ignite into a dangerously high temperature. The word he was thinking of was a very angry, very red _Roman candle_ , but that word returned to _Ava Ire_ when she hissed a curse under her breath, quiet enough that only Odin could hear.

Titan sauntered before them, Strat Six taking their position at the right of the chamber. Hands firmly clasped behind his back, Titan stood with his back to them, admiring the view of open space.

It was silent, save for the lone song playing slowly, methodically.

Titan raised a hand in the air, letting himself direct the music with an imaginary baton.

“Do you hear that?” he chimed. “The surrender? The mercy of a melody so-”

He turned to Strategos, who cleared their throat, offering calmly, “Beautiful, sir?”

Ava thought she could see the glimmer of a smile behind that helmet, but she blamed it on the dim lighting.

“It’s beautiful. Yes, precisely.”

Strategos nodded humbly as Titan began to circle the prisoners.

“I have heard much about you. Two teenagers, defying my empire, tainting my name. Creating destruction in your wake. Establishing your own resistance.”

He tutted under his breath, eyeing the back of their heads.

“But I’ve heard something even _more_ remarkable than the stories about your decrepit ragtag team of misfits.”

He nearly chuckled, continuing in private amusement.

“I’ve been told, you are the very incarnations of two very angry, very prideful rulers who-”

He grazed a hand over the back of their skulls, causing them to flinch.

“Committed acts of suicide instead of joining my righteous cause.”

He faced the ceiling, taking slow by slow step around them.

“A married pair too. I’m sure that has its…influence on you unfortunate creatures.”

He peered at them both to see them exchange an uneasy glance.

“Hmm,” he remarked, studying the pair. “And it would appear there’s more to it than just that.”

Titan paused at the expansive porthole. Ava glanced at the guards surrounding every escape route, then at Odin.

She looked away when he realized she was staring at the blood.

“Tell me where the others are hiding.”

It was direct, and without leisure. Odin thought he could hear the music move louder, reverberating like an echo in his ears…

Titan turned, only to see the teenagers glaring at him.

“You can be stubborn. All I need is time, and persuasion.”

He nodded at the guard behind Odin, who grabbed him at his handcuffs, lurching him to stand to his feet. He stumbled, staggering to his feet. Ava straightened herself, short, quick glances being made from Odin to Titan, her heart speeding up when she realized the giant was moving quickly now.

He said nothing when he produced a thin obsidian needle from his sleeve, cutting it through the air and slashing its point across Odin’s face. Ava sucked in a sharp breath, hearing the cry escape his throat, the instantaneous reaction of him turning and flinching away. In the next instant, Titan had grabbed the back of Odin’s head by his hair.

“You two-” he seethed, “-have been extraordi _narily_ difficult to dispose of.”

He made a spectacle of it, holding Odin by his black hair, the purple blood sending streams down his cheek unto his shirt, then falling to the floor. Ava winced, feeling a drop fall on her.

Making sure the entire room could see, Titan displayed the teenager, using enough force to expose his throat, a creature clean enough for the slaughter.

“Tell me!” he barked, nearly shaking the teenager’s head from his spine, “Where are they?!”

“You’re scared.”

Titan paused, and Odin opened his one good eye to see her, the leader of this rebellion, unwavering.

“You’re scared of the resistance. We’ve become a threat to your empire, and I can see the fear. It’s in your eye. You reek of fear,” she declared.

Titan seemed to soften at this, taking a moment to reflect on her accusation as he simply stared at her.

She stared right back, but she could _feel_ the pain of the older teenager, who was taking deep breaths. The gash was clean and precise, cutting through his left eye and ending at his jaw. The warm blood continued to flow.

She did not waver.

They said if they were caught, they would not break. They would not surrender. They swore their lives on it.

Hearing his pained gasps made her hate that promise.

The gash was not healing, and she knew he had been right. She could escape, maybe.

But not together.

“I just don’t think you understand,” the giant sighed. “You’re not children. I am not going to simply slap you on the wrists for high treason.”

He stood before Ava now, then said to a guard, “Unbound his hands.”

The guard complied, removing the handcuffs from Odin’s wrists and then stepping away. It wasn’t a split second later that Titan grabbed him by the wrist, forcing him to stand with his arm displayed high in the air.

Titan took his time examining his hand, then spoke to Strategos, every person in the room, and specifically, to Ava.

“I’ve seen hands like these before. A musician’s hands. A writer’s hands. An artist’s hands.”

He was looking daggers into Ava. Just her, and the unnatural white glow of his dreadful eye, and the realization that he was speaking to her and her alone now.

“You can tell,” he said, running his thumb over the spot she had kissed multiple times, “that they were made to create. Hands like these, they make the music we’re listening to right now.”

Ava could hear it, the tranquil melody playing on an endless loop. Her heart started to pump faster, the hair on the back of her neck bristling, magma tumbling as the beautiful voice sang and sang and sang-

“Do you hear it?”

Titan tilted his head, his grip on Odin’s hand tightening. Ava swallowed, trying to force her body from shaking.

“It’s fear little girl.

Your fear.”

With that, he snapped Odin’s wrist, breaking it with disregard.

The boy kept his scream locked inside his closed mouth, but there was no denying the panicked response of him trying to scramble away. Titan did not let go, making Odin stand straight as he jolted him by the wrist, stating, “Are you willing to take responsibility Miss Ire? Or has that name died with your insubordination?!”

He shook Odin’s broken hand, causing the teenager to kick out, his eyes closed tightly shut, the soles of his shoes barely scraping the floor. He was trying to get away, and Ava saw him try to turn away from her too, to not look her in the eye.

“Have you become heartless?”

She did not answer, biting her lip and tuning defiantly to look away.

“Would you let this creature suffer?”

Still she did not answer, although the searing heat stabbed at her throat, sending pin pricks of tears to form in her eyes.

“Do you hate him enough to let his blood spill?!”

The girl dug her nails into her palms, so hard that she broke the skin.

“Don’t l-listen, Ava, d-d-don’t,” he choked, straining to keep his voice calm. “He’s tr-trying to, t-to-

Titan let go, pushing Odin to the ground, directly in front of Ava so they were facing each other on their knees.

It only took her a few milliseconds to comprehend the state he was in. The slash on his face, starting from his scalp and ending at his jaw, was deep, a dark disturbing shade of indigo seeping to the surface. His eye was now puffy and red and bleeding, as hard as it was for him to open it. A guard fastened the handcuffs behind his back once more, and before her lips could form his name, she was snatched at the shoulder by another guard, bringing her to her feet and leading her away.

“H-Hey!” 

Odin lunged to the side, scrambling to stand up, only to be pushed back to his knees by two guards. He moved in distress, straining to look behind him but unable to see her.

He could hear her though, at the front of the room, dead center at the front of the looking glass.

“Ava?!”

He called out, ignoring the commands of the officers to shut up, his eyes wide and ears on edge as he tried to hear her. The music, it lulled on, dimly matching the agonizing throb in his hand.

Ava stood at the center, her eyes meeting Strategos Six for a moment before she looked away, her round nose wrinkling and mouth scowling. Titan circled her like before, his eye roaming and calculating.

Without warning, he stopped, reached out, and grabbed her by the jaw. Using his other hand, he lifted her upper lip, exposing her yellowed canines, sharp and crooked, and explicitly foreign to anything he had seen before.

Strategos Six tilted their chin, narrowing their eyes.

“She’s amazing, is she not?” Titan cooed, running his thumb down the smooth tooth. “I doubted your stories, Strategos. But I do, inconceivably, stand corrected.”

“The rumors really are true. ‘The most unstoppable pair in the Galaxy.’ You-”

He caressed Ava’s face, causing her to sneer and flinch away.

“-Powerful, fighting with so much rage that even my armies cower. And him, your strategist, guard dog and confidant. I can see it in your eyes. You both are making the same foolish mistakes your diseased souls made years ago.”

He waved at the air, motioning for something she could not see.

When he had it in his hand, the giant asked, “Have you thought about what I asked? Do you believe foolish arrogance is the solution to this predicament?”

Ava refused to look at him, instead rolling her eyes to look at the back of Odin’s head.

“A pity. Nonetheless-”

He placed the pliers in her mouth, latching them firmly on her canine.

“This will be a beautiful addition to my collection.”

Ava did not know what happened first: her shriek, piercing enough to cause Six to wince, or the slicing pain. She attempted to get away, rolling her neck farther away, but was unable to escape. The pliers pulled, and she tried to reason with herself that it wasn’t real, the pain wasn’t real, it wasn’t real, it wasn’t real-

The lie wasn’t working, and her wail only grew louder with the slow, pressured tug of the pliers.

The next voice was louder, however.

“ ** _S-S-Stop_** _ **!**_ ”

A moment’s pause. Ave Maria had met her mercy.

“I’ll t-t-tell you. I, I. L-Let her go.”

Ava closed her eyes, her shoulders going slack with defeat. The pliers hovered, the deafening silence assaulted by the loop of music, and then the cold metal was freed from her mouth, her tooth still pounding with ache.

A minute passed, and with her eyes still closed, she was led back to once again kneel in front of Odin.

She opened her eyes once she was facing him, and they watched each other, knowing they were truly surrounded, and truly, this time, they would have to break.

The girl just shook her head, her face scrunching before she broke down and began to sob. It was awful to hear, awful in how she was fighting for air, magma dripping from her eyes and nose, unable to stop.

“You promised you wouldn’t,” she cried, her voice high and strained. “I thought we, we made a promise.”

Odin’s head rolled to face the ground, unable to answer her.

He had promised her.

But unfortunately, that promise had been made in private, in confidence that the worse case scenario would never be able to touch them, as if it were only a bad dream.

Somewhere, they had smoked and laughed and recruited and had played with the word _unstoppable_.

A neatly dressed surgeon approached from the shadows with a pair of scissors. They began to snip down the front of Odin’s shirt, to which he jerked away, shouting, “I’ll t-tell you! There’s nothing m-more!”

Titan stood closely now, speaking decidedly.

“I know you’ll tell me. But I want the truth.”

The surgeon snipped the rest of the shirt, removing the fabric completely, leaving him bare, the metal zipper on his side glistening.

“I have never had the opportunity to examine a Vengess before, let alone an anomaly such as yourselves in this…disturbing state. And here, Fate has given me _two_ , hand delivered to my doorstep.”

Ava realized the same was being done to her, the pretty patterns of her dress wilting like petals as her chest was exposed, revealing the wooden red and gold smile of her pact as it was brought to light. Her shoulders hunched forward, her nails digging fiercely into her intertwined hands.

Snip, snip, snip.

Odin looked away, slow quiet tears rolling down his face, the blood from his eye running thin and dry now.

“Are you unable to look at her like this?”

And then the giant’s hand grabbed the hair at the back of his head, forcing him to face the girl. Still, Odin closed his eyes.

The voice was controlled, speaking into his ear.

“Look.”

Odin shook his head once.

“Look at her!”

Odin opened his eyes, a fresh collection of tears pooling in his eyes as he saw her: small, shaking, her scarred arms bare and exposed, the tattered dress hanging loosely at her hips.

He could see every faceless guard watching, every unworthy set of eyes trailing over her, and his skin darkened into a deathly indigo. He felt the sick bile churn like acid in his stomach and he fought against the urge to vomit, realizing that this was happening, and the room was spinning, and the sounds of cold surgical steel were clamoring against each other.

She was crying too as she mouthed the same sentence over and over, her red hair falling over her face, and he thought he would collapse at the sight of her voiceless repetition, at the shame, for her and him and the both of them together like this, shirtless and bare and shivering from the mechanical cold of the ship.

She was crying hard now, much harder than before, yet still the words would not come forth.

“Normally,” the booming voice announced, “I would conduct my experiments in private. Science is for exploration, not-” He paused, chuckling. “- _Exploitation_. But I’m making an exception. Look, and let your curiosity be sated.”

The room seemed to move on its own as the guards strained to see for themselves.

“But what kind of story would this be-” He continued mockingly, “-Without love.”

“Stop it,” she whispered, so quietly that Odin could barely hear her.

“And what better way to demonstrate that love, than through the Universe’s oldest act itself?”

Titan turned to Strategos, speaking as though they were discussing battle plans.

“I think our two rebels should share a kiss. What do you think Strategos?”

Strat stiffened, suddenly going quiet with hesitation as they cleared their throat, before stating, “I suppose so, sir.”

Titan turned his attention back to the teenagers expectantly, but Odin hissed under his breath, growling, “N- **No**.”

His skin was darkening now, as dozens of eyes were watching them. Titan did not seem impressed by his response; instead he crouched behind Ava. He pulled her hair gently behind her shoulders, exposing the wooden chest even more.

“It is difficult, it must be, to love someone but knowing you can’t be together? The cruelty of circumstances, how the Fate’s design weaves and spins Her web, and then-”

He brought the obsidian needle to her throat, digging its point into her skin.

“That cosmic spider snatches any semblance of hope away from you.”

He dug the point deeper, causing Ava’s breath to hitch, the sheen of tears still evident on her face. Before the needle could find its way to her pulse, Odin crawled forward on his knees, leaning forward to press his forehead against her’s. He was aware that Titan had moved away now, and Odin began to chant the words now, an old folklore of a rhyme only they knew the words to, feeling her eyelashes brush against his face, their tear-stained cheeks rubbing against each other. He knew her tears were on him, just as his blood was now smeared on her face, but he bumped his forehead against her’s just like he had done dozens of times before, always with a smile, always whispering, “I know you, I know you”, and the feeling was there now but desperate as he planted a kiss, light and apologetic, on her lips. He moved away, trembling with the shame, the indignity of kissing her under these circumstances.

Titan grabbed them both by the shoulder, stating darkly, “Very well done, and quite the spectacle. It’s not every day we have _two_ monsters in our presence.”

Titan went to his surgical tray, and Odin immediately leaned in, speaking as fast and as quietly as he could.

“I c-can get up, I’ll f-fight as a distraction, you make a run for it-”

She began to shake her head.

“ _Ava-_.”

“I knew the blood was your’s,” she breathed, interrupting him. She tried to gather her breath, hiccuping each word. A faint smile came over her lips, igniting fresh tears in her eyes. “I knew our bodies were running out of time, and we were growing weaker, and I knew that’s why we couldn’t get away, and-”

Her smile broke, her bottom lip quivering as she struggled to say aloud what she had been trying to say.

“It’s all my fault.”

The girl cried, and then she laughed.

“I have failed everyone, including you.”

Odin shook his head, stating, “It’s not your f-fault.”

She hiccuped, gasping, “Don’t lie to me.”

Precisely, together, they heard the music become louder.

“I’m n-not,” he whispered.

She could see the shine of what appeared to be a toothy saw glimmer in the light, and she forced her eyes to the ceiling, the pupils narrowing into a blood red slit at the white light, wide and wet.

“We were really stupid. God, we were so stupid.”

The music did not delay, or quiet itself.

Instinctively, from the chill, or the humiliation of their naked bodies, or simply from seeing each other so frightened, Ava and Odin shimmied closer, separating the distance between them and pressing their chests together, their heads resting in the cradle of each other’s shoulder.

Strategos Six turned their back, their hands grasping firmly together behind their back as they watched the passing nebula come into view. They shut their eyes, knowing it had begun.

The music did nothing to drown out their cries.


End file.
